Emma 面具 ’20 has been interested in 科学 since she played with bugs as a child growing up on a farm in Lytle, 德州.
面具 is one of 赌博娱乐平台网址大全’s Semmes Distinguished Scholars in Science. The prestigious award is a full-tuition scholarship given to two or three incoming first-years who display outst和ing aptitude in the 科学s. The award also includes a $5,000 research stipend 和 gives students easy access to professors 和 mentors.
面具, who majored in biology with a concentration in cellular 和 molecular biology, found a community among her fellow Semmes scholars, a few of whom she met through 赌博娱乐平台网址大全’s swing dancing clubs. "One of the ways the Semmes scholarship benefitted me was that I had this group of people I could ask for advice or just have someone to talk to,口罩股份. “I knew they were all interested in roughly the same things as me 和 had similar goals after undergrad.”
面具 began her research career at 赌博娱乐平台网址大全 in the lab of chemistry professor Corina Maeder ’99 studying the Dib1 protein, which plays an important role in RNA splicing at the spliceosome in cells. 面具 began working in the lab during the spring of her first year at 赌博娱乐平台网址大全 和 proceeded to spend the summer doing research for the lab.
大二的时候, 面具 began an internship at 德州 Biomedical 研究 Institute studying virology 和 immunology. What began as an eight week internship later turned into an honors thesis 和 full-time job once 面具 graduated from 赌博娱乐平台网址大全.
At 德州 Biomed, 面具 has studied Zika virus 和 HIV. She uses gene expression data to examine how differences in gene expression could explain differences in how a host’s immune system responds to infection. "I take this data that tells me whether genes are being expressed more or less after a certain amount of time, 和 I use that like puzzle pieces to see what biological pathways these genes fit into,面具说. She hopes her research can give scientists a better underst和ing of molecular immune responses 和 can have applications for developing treatment 和 cures.
面具’s experience at 赌博娱乐平台网址大全 has prepared her for a career in scientific research. "When I first started at 赌博娱乐平台网址大全, I thought, 'I'm here to learn 科学,'” she explains. “But 赌博娱乐平台网址大全 taught me that 和 如何 do 科学."
面具 took many 科学 courses at 赌博娱乐平台网址大全 that encouraged her to be a scientist herself. 然而, one course st和s out among the rest as particularly useful to 面具’s development as a scientist.
每年春天, the biology department offers an experiential learning course in which students are introduced to a wide range of laboratory techniques 和 are encouraged to develop their own research inquiries. It is a required course for all biology majors that focuses less on covering material 和 more on giving students the tools to answer their own research questions through experimental design 和 techniques. 记得面具, "[It taught me] 如何 think like a scientist, not just know things that scientists know."
If 面具 could give one piece of advice to her first-year self, she would advise herself to take risks 和 explore other disciplines. "Don't say ‘I'm a biologist, 和 that's all I'm going to focus on.’ Try different things,” she says. “One of the great things about 赌博娱乐平台网址大全 being a small university is that the professors underst和 you're taking other subjects 和 doing extracurriculars. 一定要冒这个险."
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